Pilate

(armed with a spear), Pontius. Pontius Pilate was the sixth Roman procurator of Judea, and under him our Lord worked, suffered and died, as we learn not only from Scripture, but from Tacitus (Ann. xv. 44). was appointed A.D. 25-6, in the twelfth year of Tiberius. His arbitrary administration nearly drove the Jews to insurrection on two or three occasions. One of his first acts was to remove the headquarters of the army from Caesarea to Jerusalem. The soldiers of course took with them their standards, bearing the image of the emperor, into the holy city. No previous governor had ventured on such an outrage. The people poured down in crowds to Caesarea, where the procurator was then residing, and besought him to remove the images. After five days of discussion he gave the signal to some concealed soldiers to surround the petitioners and put them to death unless they ceased to trouble him; but this only strengthened their determination, and they declared themselves ready rather to submit to death than forego their resistance to aa idolatrous innovation. Pilate then yielded, and the standards were by his orders brought down to Caesarea. His slaughter of certain Galileans, (Luke 13:1) led to some remarks from our Lord on the connection between sin and calamity. It must have occurred at some feast at Jerusalem, in the outer court of the temple. It was the custom for the procurators to reside at Jerusalem during the great feasts, to preserve order, and accordingly, at the time of our Lord’s last Passover, Pilate was occupying his official residence in Herod’s palace. The history of his condemnation of our Lord is familiar to all. We learn from Josephus that Pilate’s anxiety to avoid giving offence to Caesar did not save him from political disaster. The Samaritans were unquiet and rebellious Pilate led his troops against them, and defeated them enough. The Samaritans complained to Vitellius, then president of Syria, and he sent Pilate to Rome to answer their accusations before the emperor. When he reached it he found Tiberius dead and Caius (Caligula) on the throne A,D, 36. Eusebius adds that soon afterward “wearied with misfortunes,” he killed himself. As to the scene of his death there are various traditions. One is that he was banished to Vienna Allobrogum (Vienne on the Rhone), where a singular monument—a pyramid on a quadrangular base, 52 feet high—is called Pontius Pilate”s tomb, An other is that he sought to hide his sorrows on the mountain by the lake of Lucerne, now called Mount Pilatus; and there) after spending years in its recesses, in remorse and despair rather than penitence, plunged into the dismal lake which occupies its summit.

PI'LATE, John 19:1, or PON'TIUS PI'LATE, Matt 26:2, was appointed procurator of Judaea, a.d. 29. The proper residence of the procurator was Caesarea, but it was customary for him to go to Jerusalem at the great festivals for the purpose of securing order and safety in the city, and thus it happened that Pilate was present in Jerusalem during the Passover when our Lord suffered death. The chief duty of the procurator respected the revenues, but in a minor territory, such as Judaea, which was dependent on a larger contiguous province (Syria), the procurator was the head of the whole administration, and held the highest military and judicial authority; and thus Pilate became the judge of our Lord. The administration of Pilate was extremely offensive to the Jews, and more than once he drove them to the very verge of insurrection. He seems to have nourished a special contempt for them and taken pleasure in showing it, but when, by cruelty and perfidy, he had brought them into a rage, he generally became frightened and yielded. Having transferred the military headquarters from Caesarea to Jerusalem, he sent the standards with the images of the emperor into the city. As soon as this became known the Jews rushed in great multitudes down to Caesarea, and demanded to have the standards removed, because, as idols, they defiled the Holy City. Pilate permitted the multitude to be surrounded by soldiers, and told them to disperse quietly or else they would be massacred. But when the Jews declared that they would die rather than tolerate the images of the emperor within the walls of Jerusalem, Pilate was frightened and yielded. The principal feature in the character of Pilate was weakness, and it became piteously apparent during the trial of our Lord. When Jesus was arraigned before him he was not only anxious to avoid trying him, but he once and again, in the most solemn and impressive manner, even in presence of his malicious and bloodthirsty persecutors, declared his conviction of his perfect innocence. He even remonstrated with them on the iniquity and unreasonableness of their conduct, and would fain throw upon them the whole responsibility of the deed they were about to perpetrate. Nevertheless, as soon as he saw that the acquittal of Jesus might be so construed as to arouse the suspicion of the emperor, he renounced his own conviction and delivered up the innocent Saviour to the hands of the enraged multitude to be crucified. In 36 the governor of Syria raised some severe accusations against Pilate, who went to Rome to defend himself before the emperor. He did not succeed, however, and was banished to Vienne, in 44 Gaul, and there, or, according to another tradition, on the mountain near Lake Lucerne which bears his name, he committed suicide shortly after. The Fathers speak often about an official report of the trial and condemnation of our Lord sent by Pilate to Tiberius, but the Acta Pilati now extant are spurious.

armed with a dart

PI'LATE, John 19:1, or PON'TIUS PI'LATE, Matt 26:2, was appointed procurator of Judaea, a.d. 29. The proper residence of the procurator was Caesarea, but it was customary for him to go to Jerusalem at the great festivals for the purpose of securing order and safety in the city, and thus it happened that Pilate was present in Jerusalem during the Passover when our Lord suffered death. The chief duty of the procurator respected the revenues, but in a minor territory, such as

Judaea, which was dependent on a larger contiguous province (Syria), the procurator was the head of the whole administration, and held the highest military and judicial authority; and thus Pilate became the judge of our Lord. The administration of Pilate was extremely offensive to the Jews, and more than once he drove them to the very verge of insurrection. He seems to have nourished a special contempt for them and taken pleasure in showing it, but when, by cruelty and perfidy, he had brought them into a rage, he generally became frightened and yielded. Having transferred the military headquarters from Caesarea to Jerusalem, he sent the standards with the images of the emperor into the city. As soon as this became known the Jews rushed in great multitudes down to Caesarea, and demanded to have the standards removed, because, as idols, they defiled the Holy City. Pilate permitted the multitude to be surrounded by soldiers, and told them to disperse quietly or else they would be massacred. But when the Jews declared that they would die rather than tolerate the images of the emperor within the walls of Jerusalem, Pilate was frightened and yielded. The principal feature in the character of Pilate was weakness, and it became piteously apparent during the trial of our Lord. When Jesus was arraigned before him he was not only anxious to avoid trying him, but he once and again, in the most solemn and impressive manner, even in presence of his malicious and bloodthirsty persecutors, declared his conviction of his perfect innocence. He even remonstrated with them on the iniquity and unreasonableness of their conduct, and would fain throw upon them the whole responsibility of the deed they were about to perpetrate. Nevertheless, as soon as he saw that the acquittal of Jesus might be so construed as to arouse the suspicion of the emperor, he renounced his own conviction and delivered up the innocent Saviour to the hands of the enraged multitude to be crucified. In 36 the governor of Syria raised some severe accusations against Pilate, who went to Rome to defend himself before the emperor. He did not succeed, however, and was banished to Vienne, in 44 Gaul, and there, or, according to another tradition, on the mountain near Lake Lucerne which bears his name, he committed suicide shortly after. The Fathers speak often about an official report of the trial and condemnation of our Lord sent by Pilate to Tiberius, but the Acta Pilati now extant are spurious.